Message of Abbot Paul - Wednesday 8th March 2023

You might remember that in September I visited our monastery in Peru for the Canonical Visitation. It was my first visit since February 2020. Six months after a visitation, it’s customary to revisit a monastery to see whether advice given has been acted on and things are improving. Yesterday I held the first of a few days interviewing the monks from the superior down to the last postulant. Even a good, well-run monastery can make improvements to strengthen its monastic observance and bonds of charity among the brethren. We’re in late Summer now and it was a particularly hot day, not to sort of day you want to be cooped up inside carrying out interviews. A visit to a nearby beach would have been a more pleasant option! On the other hand, in the north, where we first lived, they had torrential rains caused by the Niño.

Our Gospel passage today comes from Matthew, (Mt 20: 17-28), in which we find Jesus and his disciples making their way to Jerusalem for what would be their last visit. He tells them of his forthcoming arrest, condemnation, crucifixion and brutal death and how on the third day he will rise again. You would think that this alone would give them enough to think about, but no, two of them had other things on their minds. It’s the mother of Zebedee’s sons who comes forward with a request. “Promise that these two sons of mine may sit one at your right hand and the other at your left in the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus’ reply is direct and to the point. “You don’t know what you’re asking for.” He addresses the brothers. “Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?” When they answer, “We can,” he replies, “Drink it you will, but a place at my right hand and at my left is only my Father’s to give. The others are indignant, but Jesus insists that theirs is a vocation to service carried out with humility and that the first among them must be as a salve or a servant. He reminds them that, “the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Their own vocation can be no different and that goes for all his disciples, including you and me.